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[Darkmakaimura]

That's right, today would have been the 133rd birthday of H.P. Lovecraft. Arguably the best science fiction and horror writer of his time.

So much in gaming is inspired from his works.

So happy birthday to the master of science fiction and horror.

 

[Trogdor1123]

“would have” you say?

 

[German Hops]

Care to mention some of his works? Not everyone is familiar

 

[Nitty_Grimes]

Didn’t know he was still a member here.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Care to mention some of his works? Not everyone is familiar

Call of Cthulhu
Mountains of Madness
Dagon
Dunwitch Horror

Imagine backwater America in the 1930s with crossbreeding and cosmic monsters driving people insane.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

Care to mention some of his works? Not everyone is familiar

For people here, that would almost be like somebody who isn't familiar with George Lucas or Gene Roddenberry.

But anyways, his most famous work would be Call of Cthulhu or At The Mountains of Madness. He's also most well known for what is commonly known as the Cthulhu Mythos or more accurately the Yog-Sothoth Cycle or Yog-Sothothery.

Most video games and role-playing games use themes and elements that are pretty much inspired if not straight out taken from his work.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

Care to mention some of his works? Not everyone is familiar

Wait, what? The man is basically the reason the eldritch horror genre with all its tropes exists as we know it.

Lovecraft was all about ancient (very, very ancient) beings and forces preying on humanity from between time, space and dimensions. Ancient cities, strange creatures, witches, unspeakable grimoires, horrific rituals, dead people possessing living people, botched biological experiments, towns haunted by mysterious forces, ancient races of beings coming back from their icy grave in Antarctica. Stuff so horrifying, people literally lose their mind upon seeing it. A bunch of good, unexceptional men trying to figure out what the hell is going on by peering into the darkness. Oh, and cats.

Lovecraft is quite literally the starting point of modern horror. If you have even a passing interest in horror-themed science fiction you must have heard the name Cthulhu, at least in passing. That’s it, that’s Lovecraft’s most famous creation.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

Care to mention some of his works? Not everyone is familiar

He ghost wrote this:

 

[RJMacready73]

Call of Cthulhu
Mountains of Madness
Dagon
Dunwitch Horror

Imagine backwater America in the 1930s with crossbreeding and cosmic monsters driving people insane.

Fixed

 

[pachura]

His best novel is Color out of space (but please don't watch Nic Cage's movie based on it ).

 

[ClanOfNone]

He ghost wrote this:

One of the best "twists" in modern media of any format. The Switch from werewolves to eldritch horrors from beyond the stars was brilliant, and something totally unexpected. Best game of the ps4 era hands down.

 

[niilokin]

His stories and lore is massive and the way it ties into mundane (although fictional) towns and places on Earth with strange cults, secrets and monsters is just insanely brilliant. Love how his stories mix magic and science together. Also his Mythos and Robert E Howard's Conan's Hyborian world are connected. The Mythos has influenced a fuckton of popular culture and mainstream storywriting in films and games. Even Quake's endboss is Shub Niggurath and the theme is very interdimensional horror-oriented.

 

[jason10mm]

It's tragic that Lovecraft basically died of poverty when his ideas have spawned so much. Losing him and Howard, both in the prime of their careers, either robbed us of even more genius level works down the road or kept their memories pristine (well, as much as it can be given their personal writings) as they had no time to sell out. And never forget August Derleth who is really the one that kept HPL awareness alive until it could gain a critical mass. I'm also convinced that his dying with no heirs allowed his works to go into the public domain right away and thus be easily perpetuated and riffed on with no governing body. The quality of his writing is undeniable, just look at how many TERRIBLE adaptations have been made, basically all of them not made by Stuart Gordan, yet HPL comes back, stronger than ever, year after year.

 

[Elder Legend]

That's right, today would have been the 133rd birthday of H.P. Lovecraft. Arguably the best science fiction and horror writer of his time.

So much in gaming is inspired from his works.

So happy birthday to the master of science fiction and horror.

Bloodborne II comfirmed.

 

[Drake]

I've always wondered how many people who claim to be Lovecraft fans have actually read anything by him because its not an easy read at all and it took me a lot of getting used to. I'm a huge fan though and I'll usually read through his biggest and most popular stories at least once a year. My favorites include:

At the Mountains of Madness
The Shadow out of Time
The Shadow Over Innsmouth
The Rats in the Walls
The Colour out of Space,
The Whisperer in Darkness
The Call of Cthulhu
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
The Statement of Randolph Carter
The Dunwich Horror
Dagon
The Haunter of the Dark
Herbert West Reanimator

Also, I hate his Dreamlands stuff and I'll never go back to that.

Also, if you are looking for some good Illustrated Lovecraft checkout François Baranger. He's done illustrated versions of At the Mountains of Madness, The Call of Cthulhu, The Dunwich Horror and he's working on The Shadow Over Innsmouth now. His artwork is absolutely incredible.

 

[NoLootBoxDev]

My respects to him!!!

 

[Darkmakaimura]

I see a lot of people mention Video Games inspired by the Cthulhu Mythos, but don't forget there are actual video games that use the Mythos.

In fact, there is an official Call of Cthulhu game that was based on the tabletop role-playing game of the same name. It's a bit of a walking simulator but it's more true to HP Lovecraft's work.

 

[PaddyOCanager]

FYI, all of his works are public domain and widely available to read for free.

I downloaded his entire collection onto my Kindle.

 

[Days like these...]

“would have” you say?

He meant "would of"

 

[Esca]

The man most people don't know but have been exposed to his work for sometime

 

[FunkMiller]

I've always wondered how many people who claim to be Lovecraft fans have actually read anything by him because its not an easy read at all and it took me a lot of getting used to.

His concepts were always better than his actual writing. He had a voluminous imagination, but sometimes lacked the ability to translate that imagination to the page in an effective manner. It's testament to the power of his ideas that the lack of narrative flow and poor pacing doesn't ruin his works. Neither does the admittedly pretty obvious racism he's now lambasted for.

 

[FunkMiller]

He ghost wrote this:

Fishing Hamlet remains the single best realisation of Lovecraft's locations ever made.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

Did you know he was racist? Lmao. It's funny how that's all certain people can talk about.

 

[AlteredForms]

Abdul Alhazred sends his wishes Lovecraft.

 

[IDKFA]

Respect to the King.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

Respect to the King.

It's funny because Cthulhu and Dagon are probably my least favorite beings in the Mythos.

 

[Trogdor1123]

Does anyone on YouTube do a good breakdown of the whole mythos? I’d like to see that

 

[jason10mm]

His concepts were always better than his actual writing. He had a voluminous imagination, but sometimes lacked the ability to translate that imagination to the page in an effective manner. It's testament to the power of his ideas that the lack of narrative flow and poor pacing doesn't ruin his works. Neither does the admittedly pretty obvious racism he's now lambasted for.

You gotta remember that he was writing in an Era WELL before almost any kind of special effect or visual language for that sort of thing. A lot of sci-fi/horror writers of the time struggled to depict their vision because there was no reference point or common language for it. It always comes of as some sort of fever dream or drug trip

 

[JBat]

Truly impressed with everyone so far separating the art from the artist.

These two are the only pieces of art by an actual artist I own. The one on the right was a commission from my wife by the same artist for a birthday

 

[Cyberpunkd]

I see a lot of people mention Video Games inspired by the Cthulhu Mythos, but don't forget there are actual video games that use the Mythos.

In fact, there is an official Call of Cthulhu game that was based on the tabletop role-playing game of the same name. It's a bit of a walking simulator but it's more true to HP Lovecraft's work.

Dark Corners of the Earth is one of the best and most atmospheric FPS games of all time. Pure bliss if you can get over production values.

 

[Mikado]

If you enjoy Audiobooks, there are some pretty decent free* reads of Lovecraft stories at: Horrorbabble on Youtube

If funny picture books are more your thing, consider the manga adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness

If you like Alan Moore and Lovecraft, you could very well like Providence

* for a definition of `free` that discounts the cost of whatever BS is involved with dealing with youtube these days

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

Respect to the King.

Now I’m imagining a Shadow of the Colossus mod with Great Old Ones as bosses.

Truly impressed with everyone so far separating the art from the artist.

A white Rhode Island fella in the 1930s was racist. Imagine that!
There’s some blatant racism in his writings, but it’s not like it was easily avoidable at the time.

 

[AJUMP23]

HP is one weird cat.

 

[Monokrom]

 

[What A Shame...]

HP is one weird cat.

...speaking about cats.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

What is this from?

 

[Monokrom]

What is this from?

South Park, The episode "Mysterion Rises" S14E12. Cartman have Cthulhu as a pet.

 

[Jeff Spicoli]

My favourite tale Is probably "The Temple".

 

[LiquidMetal14]

I remember going to Costco in 1999 and seeing those awesome Hewlett Packard and Packard Bell PC's.